University College Dublin (UCD) has today announced the appointment of Liam Cronin as its first Director of Innovation to drive innovation, entrepreneurship and commercialisation of research outputs within the University.

In this new key leadership role Liam will also be responsible for managing the strategic direction of the University’s activities delivered through NovaUCD in the areas of innovation, knowledge transfer and commercialisation, enterprise development and consultancy.

Liam takes up his new role today at UCD.

Professor Kate Robson Brown, UCD Vice-President for Research, Innovation and Impact said, “University College Dublin plays a key leadership role in research and innovation and is at the heart of Ireland’s innovation and knowledge exchange ecosystem and I am therefore delighted to welcome Liam to UCD to take up this new position of Director of Innovation at the University.

I look forward to working with him to further drive the innovation agenda across UCD as outlined in Breaking Boundaries, the University’s Strategy to 2030, to enhance our leadership position in innovation, entrepreneurship and in the delivery of impact in the support of Irish and European industrial competitiveness.”

Liam was formerly the CEO of the RDI Hub in Killorglin, Co. Kerry which opened in 2020. Under Liam’s leadership over the last the five years the RDI Hub has supported ca. 100 start-ups and scaling companies, which have secured over €250 million, created over 430 jobs and launched 70 new products and services. In addition, over 10,000 people have attended RDI Hub training programmes since 2020.

Speaking about his new appointment Liam Cronin said, “UCD has developed a strong track record of success in innovation and entrepreneurship, especially over the last 20 years since the establishment of NovaUCD, and it is a great honour for me to have been appointed to the new role of Director of Innovation at the University.

I am especially delighted to be joining NovaUCD which earlier this year was recognised by the Financial Times and Statista as one of the leading start-up hubs in Europe, for the second year in a row, and is once again the only university-based start-up hub in Ireland to feature in the Top 150 ranking.”

He added, “I am looking forward to working with Professor Robson Brown, the innovation team at NovaUCD, and with my new colleagues across UCD to support researchers and start-ups to scale and grow, creating new products and services, leading to high value sustainable jobs, as they break boundaries and reach for the stars.

In addition, in my new role I will be working to further develop and embed innovation, in all its forms, across the campus and to collaborate deeper with Government, State agencies, industry, commercial and societal partners. My focus will be to ensure that UCD contributes to its full potential to Ireland’s national innovation ecosystem and to further enhance UCD’s leadership position and reputation in innovation.”

Liam has 30+ years’ experience working within both the public and private sector. Prior to joining the RDI Hub, Liam was the Commercial Director at ADAPT, the Research Ireland Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology at Trinity College Dublin, where he was responsible for the Centre’s enterprise engagement and commercialisation activities and provided both strategic and operational leadership. In addition, he has previously held senior executive roles with Microsoft in Ireland and Western Europe.

Liam has a BSc in Financial Information Systems from Trinity College Dublin, a BSc in Public Administration/Management from the University of Limerick, a Masters and Postgraduate Diploma in Product Management from Technological University Dublin and a Graduate Diploma in Computer Science from the University of Limerick.

NovaUCD is supported under the KT Boost Programme co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union, through the Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027.